Gone, But Not Forgotten
by olsonss24
Summary: Princess Emma needs to get out of Misthaven. Really she needs to stop being a Princess. She's always wanted to be normal, so for now she's running away. She's running away from a lot of things.


**Oh look another modern royalty AU, which seems to be a theme with me lately. Although this is just a one shot that came to me when I was stuck on a plane for a few hours. Hope you guys like it! Disclaimer: I do not hate Regina, this story simply needed a villain.**

 **-KE-**

This wasn't the first time Emma ran away; not even close to the first time actually. It's not that she hates her home or even her parents. She loves them dearly. They just hold such high expectations for her, expectations she's not sure she can live up to. All she wants is a normal life and she can't have that when she lives in a palace with guards. She can't live in a apartment that overlooks the river and have friends over. So she's running away not forever just for a couple months to clear her head get her priorities straight. She's running away to get over him. She's running away for a lot of reasons.

Emma has enough money to get an apartment for about four months, give or take. She knows who will be looking for her and they will expect her to go several countries away, but she's going to France adjacent to the small country of Misthaven, that which she calls home. They won't expect her to be so close, to be almost under their noses. Hopefully that will work for a couple months.

She slips past her detail in the middle of the night without them noticing her. It's not uncommon for her to leave to go out for the night, but she usually comes back in the morning. She won't be this time. She catches the last train across the border.

Once in Paris she sits in a 24 hour cafe and it's comforting that no one looks at her twice. That no one knows who she is. She scans the local newspaper for apartments. She finds a charming three bedroom apartment that's looking for a roommate. Nothing else looks ideal really, so once it's an acceptable hour she'll give the number a call.

The women, Elsa, on the other end of the call is nice enough and tells her to meet her at the cafe under her apartment.

Emma meets Elsa in the cafe and the women is distant, but polite. The two women come to an arrangement about the space. Emma claims to be visiting and looking for an authentic experience. Not necessarily a lie, but not the full truth either. The room is furnished, and Elsa and her sister are trying to save some money by having a roommate. No contract, not that Emma minds. That would just lead a trail to her. After she hands over the first month's rent plus a little extra, Elsa hands her a key, and they head upstairs. The room is small, but not tiny and the furniture nice. Better than what Emma hoped for. Emma sets her bags there and heads out into the kitchen.

Elsa seems all business, so hopefully she won't try and be too nosey about Emma's life. That might've been true, but then she met Anna, Elsa's sister and she was the most cheerful person Emma ever met. She wanted to know everything about Emma.

"What are you doing in Paris?" Anna asks as Emma looks around the kitchen.

"Just trying to get an authentic experience by living with people who know the city," Emma smiles, trying to edge back to her room.

"Oh that's great! Elsa and I were born and raised here. We can tell you all the good places to go," she says excitedly. Elsa comes out of her room dressed in a pant suit. Emma raises an eyebrow about to ask a question when Elsa cuts her off before she can start.

"I'm a lawyer and I'm due in court," she explains to Emma and turns to Anna, "leave the poor girl alone she's probably tired from traveling." With Elsa's departure, Emma slips back into her room falling asleep almost instantly.

That night Elsa comes home and the three girls have a lovely dinner that Anna made for them. After her short nap Emma was pulled into the kitchen with Anna and told her as much as she could about herself. She learns a lot about the sisters. Their parents raised them, but they tragically died in a car accident when Elsa was in law school and Anna was still in high school. Elsa had to take care of her sister. Emma barely asked any questions Anna just told her most of this. The dinner is delicious and she learns even more about the two sisters.

Over the next month she develops a nice friendship with the two sisters that she hadn't expected. Normal people make easy friendships though and that's why she was doing this. To be normal. To forget who she is. To forget about him. Emma's first impression about Elsa was wrong. She appears to be all business, but her and Emma have grown to be close friends.

One night the sisters decide to go out with some of their other friends and invite Emma along. They introduce her to Ruby and her girlfriend, Dorothy, Belle and Will, who apparently won't tell each other how they feel. For some reason Anna felt the need to tell Emma that before entering the bar. They grab a table at the local bar and order some drinks. Ruby starts asking the questions.

"So you're from Misthaven right?" She asks curious and Emma just nods.

"I can't believe their princess is missing that's so tragic," Belle says. Emma cringes at this. About two days after her departure her parents revealed that she was missing. Her mother looked heart broken. When Emma explains why she did all this her mother will understand, hopefully.

"I know it is," Anna adds on, nodding solemnly

"You know you kinda look like her," Ruby says to her. Emma blushes, she wondered if this would come up, but she has something prepared for this.

"Yeah I get that all the time and having the same name as her never helped," Emma laughs it off and so does the group. They all talk late into night and they only leave after last call. She exchanged numbers with everyone there and it's nice. She hit it off with everyone. She has plans with Ruby to go shopping this week. This could never happen back home. She couldn't have a friend that she could go shopping with without security and an empty store. This is normal and Emma loves it. She felt guilty when they said that the Misthaven Princess had gone missing, but she needs to see who she is without the title and the people will understand that when she returns. Her parents will too. Most importantly here there are no reminders of him. None at all.

Everyday she tried something new or goes somewhere new. She loves every minute of it. She spends time with her new friends and lives her life.

Her new friends are the highlight of her life. Anna is a college student and tells her all the good restaurants to try. Elsa is busy with her job but always joins them for dinner telling them about the crazy criminals she dealt with that day. Ruby owns a boutique and always knows what will look best on Emma. Dorothy is a policewoman and has fascinating stories about her job. Belle works at the library and keeps giving Emma books to read. Will is a local private investigator and is slightly cynical about people. Emma cannot tell if that's from his job or just who he is, but it's good for the group to have a cynic with someone as happy and optimistic as Anna is. They balance each other out.

It's a typical Friday night, so they head down to the bar. All her friends are there complaining about something or another and how grateful they are it's the weekend.

Later in the night a tall, dark man strides up the table. The whole group doesn't stop talking and he only has eyes for Emma. At first she's the only one who notices him. She never imagined he would come after her. Damn him he looks so good. He's wearing a black suit jacket and slacks with a white shirt with the first couple buttons open. His chest hair is peaking out of the top of his shirt. Fuck, his blue eyes could pierce a hole through her. He was supposed to be on his boat far away from all of this. He clears this throat never taking his gaze off of her.

"Emma, how nice to see you," he says with a blank face. He was always tricky for her to read. It wasn't fair he could read her like an open book. He certainly has grabbed the attention of the table. No one says anything just looking from him to her.

"Killian, nice to see you as well," she says with slight irritation.

"I must admit it was hard to find you. Although you've never made it easy," he says with a slight smirk. He's flirting with her, shamelessly might she add.

"Emma, what is he talking about?" Dorothy asks curious.

"What fun would that be," she flirts back totally ignoring Dorothy's question.

"Emma, are you going to introduce us to your friend here?" Ruby asks curious to her friend's behavior.

"I'm afraid Emma can't. She has to come home with me," Killian says firmly, still gazing at Emma. Before she can object Dorothy does.

"I don't like your tone of voice and I might be off duty, but I'll have my coworkers here in a heartbeat if you don't back off." She says her voice full of malice. This caught Killian's attention, but only for a brief moment. His head snaps back to Emma.

"I'm assuming they don't know who you are," Killian says and takes her silence as a yes, "Ladies and gentlemen you are in the presence with none other than Princess Emma, heir to the throne of Misthaven. I'm a captain in the Royal Navy and I'm here to bring her home." Killian states and hands over his credentials to Dorothy, so she doesn't call her cop friends. All her friends look confused looking from one another then to her.

"Emma, is what he saying true?" Elsa asks, skeptical. All of her friends eyes on her.

"Yes, what he says is true and I will explain. I am so sorry. I just need a word with Killian." Emma says annoyed that he outed her in such a manner. She stands up and moves toward him. She stops right in front of him.

"I can't believe they called you off your ship to come and find me, Lieutenant" she says bitterly.

"They didn't have to and it's Captain now," he reminds her, "Once I heard of your disappearance I came back immediately. I assumed the worst about you. Until I realized you ran away. Now, we can talk more on the way home. Let's go," he gestures toward the door.

"I'm not going back right now. My friends deserve an explanation," she says crossing her arms. The group is looking and listening to her conversation waiting for her.

"You should've have thought about that before you lied to them," he says harshly.

"When did you become so heartless?" She snaps at him.

"The moment I got on my ship," he throws in her face, which really she should've seen coming. Emma pulls herself together.

"I still outrank you Captain, so you're going to let me explain to my friends what happened then we're going to my apartment to gather my things and then we will go home." She commands and he just nods somewhat reluctantly. She leaves him standing there and resumes her seat at the table.

The moment she sits down they ask her questions all at once. She gets them to quiet down and she explains everything and apologizes more times than she can count. The still have questions at the end and she answers them all. Killian stands there annoyed, but says nothing. They forgive her saying that they just wished that they knew the truth. She was so afraid that she would lose them when they found out the truth, but they claim that it doesn't change how they feel about her. They love her despite who she is and the lies she has told. Nothing else matters right now.

"Okay one final question," the whole group stares at Ruby, "What's going on with Killian? Are you two together?" Emma blushes.

"That's a complicated question, but we aren't together," she says staring at him. His eyes are trained one her and for one moment she sees something call it hope maybe even love. Which seems impossible after what she did.

" _Emma, you cannot send him away. That won't solve anything," Mary Margaret tries to reason with her. She regrets giving Emma this responsibility. The mother thought it would be a distraction from her daughter's recent break up. The newest ship in their fleet, The Cygnus, needed a captain and she thought Emma should choose the captain. Mary Margaret should've realized this was a bad idea._

" _Mother, Killian's the most qualified and is up next for promotion. He's been a lieutenant for far too long. Liam was made Admiral last year. It's been his dream for a while now to have his own ship," Emma says holding back tears. Ending their relationship had been hard, but she needed space. She had to become Queen soon and a Queen cannot be distracted. She needs to be impervious. Interested parties would use him against to control the crown and she couldn't allow that. This protected them both._

" _Emma, please reconsider. You guys have had rough patches in the past. This too will pass," her mother says._

" _Mom, this wasn't a fight. We're done. Besides you know I'm right about this promotion. You can't keep him around here because you'll think we'll get back together because we won't," Emma says. Mary Margaret knows that Killian deserves this. She practically raised that boy. She just thinks that Emma's doing this for other reasons. Mary Margaret places a hand on Emma's shoulder._

" _I'll only say one last thing. Sleep on this decision and remember as Queen the country comes first," Mary Margaret says walking out of the room._

 _Emma waited a night per her mother's request, but the next week Killian's promotion was announced and the week after he boarded his own ship for the first time. After the Royal family christened the ship it was off on it's maiden voyage. Emma didn't come out of her room for days after. Watching him sail away was enough to break heart when it was already hurting._ There are so many things Emma wished she did differently and that was one of them. There is no changing the past.

"What's not complicated is the sexual tension. You could cut that shit with a knife. You should do something about that," Ruby says with an all too knowing smirk. The group laughs and disbands. She hugs them all knowing she may not see them any time soon. Well everyone besides Elsa and Anna, she's still going back to the apartment.

They walk back to the apartment Killian walking behind the three women. Once upstairs Anna focuses her attention on Killian. Asking him a million questions it's quite fun to watch as she packs. Once all her things are packed she hugs the sisters goodbye.

"I know you came here to find yourself, to be normal, but remember that what you do doesn't define you. Your heart does and you have a kind heart. Stay in touch and never forget that or your time with us," Elsa says with a wisdom only she could have. It almost brings tears to her eyes and as they walk out of the apartment Killian turns to her.

"You know she's right," he states as the door shuts behind them.

"About what?" She asks.

"You have a kind heart," he says opening the door for her. Hearing this from him shocks her. The get to the car and she turns toward him.

"How can you say that? After what I did?"

"We both know that what you did was out of necessity towards the crown. I could never ask you to chose between me and the crown," he says once the climb inside the car.

"But I hurt you and that was the last thing I wanted to do," she says.

"The only way to get me to go was to hurt me. Emma, I just want to be there for you. In whatever way you need me. Then you needed me at sea," he says calmly. The car moves down the narrow roads of Paris.

"How can you be this understanding? I thought when I saw you again that you would be furious and hate me. You seemed so angry in the bar and now I don't understand. I never expected you to come running after me when I ran away," she rants.

"I was angry in the bar because I had been looking for you for over two months and by this point I was ready to drag you home. I was losing hope that I was ever going to find you. Then I remember who I was dealing with and realized it would be easier to do as you wished then take you home. I'm not mad with you because well it's rather simple I love you I always have and I always will. You needed to be on your own to realize the importance of your duties to the crown. It took me a while to realize that I was so angry at first with you. I got over the anger and realized that this is what you needed. That fight we had... I never should have said any of those things. They weren't true then I didn't understand the pressures of the crown. I do now and however I can be in your life I'll take it. However don't ever run away again, I nearly had a heart attack when I heard you went missing." He says the last part stern as ever.

"I wasn't missing, but I promise I will never run away again."

"It took me one minute with the evidence to realize you ran away not that you were kidnaped like they believed," he said with a roll of his eyes. She chuckles.

"Grumpy has a flare for the dramatic although he would never admit," she comments about the head of her security.

"He certainly does," Killian says.

"When I ended things with us I thought I had to be this perfect princess with no faults. With mother stepping down soon I thought I had to be impervious in order to be Queen. I was convinced that someone would use my love for you against me. I was so scared of that and at the time it felt like the best way to protect you. To end things and send you off on our own ship. Looking back that seems so foolish and idiotic. I should've known you'd be at my side no matter what. That something like that wouldn't matter." She said with regret and sadness.

He places a hand on her cheek and she leans into his touch not realizing how much she had missed it. He leans in and kisses her softly. She pulls him in closer and the kiss becomes more passionate. They can't seem to get enough of each other. They're trying to make up for lost time. Time they should've had together. Eventually they stop just to catch their breath and suddenly remember they're not alone. The driver has a blank face, but clearly they can't go any further.

Emma doesn't want to be far from him. They spent too long apart. She settles with pressing her forehead against his. All this time she was trying to forget him, but it wasn't working. She'd see something and it would remind her of him. Or she'd try on an outfit in Ruby's boutique and think how much he would love it. She'd go somewhere and think about seeing it with him.

"I never stopped loving you for one minute," she says intertwining her fingers with his. They sit back and he pulls her close.

"I know, love. My love never wavered for you either," he says.

"How did you find me?" she asks.

"I knew you wouldn't stay in Misthaven and your love of Paris is no secret, at least not to me. So, I had an idea what city you were in at least. The hard part was finding where in the city. I eventually narrowed it down places you could be living and then called and went door to door. I had no idea I would find you tonight. Your neighbor told me that you ladies went out and where you usually went. I was almost sure that you wouldn't be at the bar. I assumed it was another dead end. I was so shocked when I saw you. I thought my eyes were playing a trick on me, but sure enough there you were," he says with a slight smile.

"No wonder it took you so long," she smirks.

"Well you didn't make it easy," he says.

"I know," she admits.

"You know your parents have been worried sick about you," he tells her. The guilt hits her hard.

"I know. I feel awful for doing that to them. I should've have told them something, so they wouldn't worry. I just wanted to be normal for once in my life. To not have to be heir to the throne," she sighs.

"They'll understand. I'm sure. Once we knew you weren't kidnapped their worry lessened, but they wanted you home," Killian tries to reassure her. He kisses her forehead and she relaxes a little.

"And I'll be by your side, not that you need me. You're strong and will be a great leader," He beams. She's glad he came after her. She was a fool for letting him go, but she had known that for weeks now. Here she was trying to forget him with absolutely no luck. All she had done most days was think about him. You cannot forget the ones you truly love no matter how hard you try. Now he's here and he still loves her. She won't push him away again, not now, not ever.

The car takes them to a helipad and a helicopter takes them out of Paris and back to Misthaven. When they land on the helipad at the palace her parents are there waiting for her. Once out of the helicopter her mother runs to her and pulls Emma into her arms. Mary Margaret has tears streaming down her face and soon does Emma. David joins them moments later.

Killian watches them with a fond smile on his face. He's known the family his whole life. His parents were friends with the royal family and when they died Mary Margaret and David took Liam and him under their wing. Emma and him didn't start dating until two years ago. He remembers that day like it was yesterday. They didn't have the smoothest of starts.

" _Swan!" Killian shouts after her. Here she is running away from him once again, her blonde hair whipping in the wind. He was trying to explain how he feels about her and he said some idiotic thing, so here they are._

" _Jones, go away! I don't want to hear it," she shouts back. Of course she ran out to the palace gardens. She liked to hide out here. He finally reaches her and grabs her arm. She looks back at him, but slips from his grasp and keeps moving away from him._

" _Well that's too bloody bad because you're going to hear it. What I was trying to say inside is I don't like that you went out with that dolt of Prince because I love you!" he shouts after her because she won't stop and listen to him. This gives her pause and she marches right up to him._

" _Excuse me?" she asks still mad as hell._

" _You heard me," he states firmly. She stands there slightly dumbstruck._

" _You have some nerve, Killian Jones," she says hands on her hips._

" _You know I imagined this going quite differently," he mutters, certain he had just ruined everything._

" _So did I! I gave up any hope you had any feelings for me that's why I went on the damn date you idiot," she fumes. Her answer surprises him._

" _You never said anything…" he trails off._

" _Of course not, how could I? I can read everyone, but you and I couldn't risk that I was wrong about you. You didn't say anything either," she says, both of them finally calming down. He can't take it anymore and pulls her into his arms and kisses her. She fights it for a split second not realizing what is happening at first. Then she melts a little in his arms and kisses him right back._

" _Now that wasn't so hard was it?" He jokes when they break apart. She laughs and kisses him again._

Emma calling his name and it breaks him out of his reverie.

"Killian," she says her parents on either side of her, "come on, we're heading in."

"We can never thank you enough for finding her," David says as they walk inside.

"I would've come home soon. I wasn't leaving forever," Emma huffs.

"That doesn't matter young lady. You've got some explaining to do. We were worried sick about you," Mary Margaret scolds her.

"I know, I am sorry," Emma says, looking ashamed. The group moves into Mary Margaret's private study. Emma and her mother sit on the love-seat and David and Killian sit in the chairs opposite from the two women.

"Why? Emma I need to know why?" Mary Margaret says.

"I wanted to be normal! I wanted to go places without security, to have friends who didn't have to pass a background check, and to just figure some shit out. I needed space," she says in an outburst.

"Emma, hon a lot of those things are for your own protection," David says.

"I know that. I understand why I have them I just didn't want them for a while. I needed to figure myself out. I was starting to doubt if I would ever be a good queen. I needed space," she says again. Mary Margaret grabs her hand. Now, that was a development. Before now Emma had never doubted her ability to be Queen, it makes Killian wonder what the hell happened.

"This is what you are born to do I have no doubt that you will be a good queen. You should've just told us we could've arranged a family vacation," Mary Margaret says.

"Your Majesty, she's saying that she needed to be alone. The problem wasn't stress. Regina said something about me, didn't she?" Killian asks Emma.

"I never said anything about Regina," Emma says, stubborn as ever.

"She made the comment that people would use me against you. I know her and so do you. No one else would say that to you," he says finally putting the pieces together. Regina was technically Mary Margaret's step mother. She lived in the summer palace, away from the capital, but when she wanted to she would make an appearance and she knew how to press Emma's buttons. Mary Margaret and David have noticed the shift in the conversation.

"Fine, she made the comment, but at the time it seemed like the truth. For whatever reason I thought she was right. That people would manipulate me through you, that it was better to be alone," she says, shaking her head.

"I can't believe she would say such a thing," Mary Margaret says. Everyone gives her a questioning look.

"I can. Mary, it is not the first time she has meddled with Emma and won't be the last if we let her. You know what, Emma don't listen to her anymore. Frankly I don't want to see her here unless she gets invited," David says sternly. Killian couldn't agree more.

"David, we can't cut her out like that," Mary says, shocked.

"We can and we will. She can stay at the summer palace I don't care. She is not messing with my family anymore. She tried this us. She tried to convince me that I wasn't good enough for you weeks before we got married," David explains and the whole room goes silent.

"You never told me that," Mary Margaret says, angry. This conversation has gotten rather awkward, Killian and Emma are just sitting there, looking at each other rather than the bickering couple.

"She's you're only living family. I couldn't do that to you," David explains.

"David, you're my husband. You, Emma, and Jones' boys are my family. She was never a mother to me," Mary Margaret says annoyed with her husband.

"It's settled then she won't be seeing us anymore," David says, looking at Emma, who nods in agreement. What Regina had said ate at her and she knew that it wasn't right. She couldn't bring herself to see what Regina was doing just like Mary Margaret. Even when she had figured it out she didn't know what to say or who to tell.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I need some sleep," Killian says and they all nod, "Emma, a word?" David looks like he's about to say something when Mary Margaret all but drags him out of there.

"Kissing you is nice and I'll gladly do whatever you want, but I need to know what you want," Killian asks her.

"I want you and us back together. I don't want to spend any time apart, so you better take me to bed before I fall asleep," she commands. A smile crosses his face and he takes her hand in his.

"As you wish." She doesn't make it her bed though. Emma practically falls asleep on the stairs, and he has to carry her up. He lays her down in bed and crawls in with her the exhaustion crashing over him in a wave. She's right they shouldn't waste any time together. In fact tomorrow he'll ask David and Mary Margaret for her hand in marriage. He doesn't want another day without her and by the way she's curled up on his chest he thinks she feels the same way.


End file.
